Corvette Wheel Offset & Back Spacing
With so many different Corvette wheel designs on the market, finding the perfect set for your Corvette is not always as easy. At Zip, we take the guesswork out of the equation by listing the exact Corvette year a particular wheel set will fit. Of course this is assuming you Corvette has not been modified with aftermarket brake packages and/or body conversion kits. If your Corvette has been modified then you should be sure the wheels you are ordering are going to fit properly. To do so, you just need to understand wheel spacing terminology and use basic math skills. Let’s go over how to measure your wheels.
Wheel Back Space
Wheel back Spacing is very simple and is often confused with the offset. To determine a wheel’s offset you must first find the wheels back space. The back space can be measured in inches but should be converted to millimeters before proceeding to find the offset. To find the back space place a straight edge across the rear of the wheel and measure to the mount pad. The distance equals the wheels back space, which in this case is 6.75″. Multiply the back space by 25.4 to convert the back space to mm (6.75″ x 25.4mm = 171mm).
Wheel Offset
Wheel offset is the distance between the centerline of the wheel to the wheel mount pad. It is measured in millimeters and the outcome can result in a zero, positive or negative measurement. To have a zero offset, the wheel mount pad must be even with the centerline of the wheel. A positive offset means that the mount pad is shifted past the centerline towards the face of the wheel, while a negative offset means the mount pad is shifted past the centerline towards the rear, or the brake side of the wheel. To determine the offset of a wheel you must first measure the overall width of the wheel. Lets say the wheel measurements are 18″ x 9.5″. Now convert the width to millimeters by multiplying the width by 25.4mm (9.5″ x 25.4mm = 241mm). Next divide the wheel width by 2 to determine the wheels centerline (241mm/2 = 121mm). With the centerline and back spacing of the wheel determined and converted to millimeters simply subtract the centerline from the back spacing for the offset (171mm – 121mm = +50mm).
Remember, we take into consideration every wheels backspace and offset before we offer a particular wheel for your Corvette. Each wheel set is listed for certain year applications because they are designed to fit properly to those models and are not guaranteed to work on Corvettes with modified body panels, suspension, brakes, etc.. For more information on which Corvette wheels are right for you feel free to Contact Us today.
I would like to know the stock wheel offset and backspacing for a 2001 C5 Z06 Corvette. 17 X 9.5 front and 18 X 10.5 rears.
Pete,
The offset of the stock wheels on a 2001 C5 Z06 Corvette is 54mm in the front and 58mm in the rear. We do not have a set here to measure the backspacing but you can determine this by following the steps above in this post.